BHA Head of Handicapping discusses Frankel rating

Frankel historically running to 140 for the second time in the Juddmonte International at York. Image copyright of Racingfotos.com

Frankel, officially the best racehorse in the world, takes to the track on Saturday in the QIPCO British Champion Stakes with the aim of keeping his stunning unbeaten record intact. However, may racegoers at Ascot will be hoping that the Sir Henry Cecil-trained star will be going out on a particular high as officially the greatest racehorse of all time since international qualifications were introduced.

Frankel is currently rated 140, a figure which he has achieved in running out a scintillating winner on his last two starts, but that still falls a pound short of the best ever rating achieved by Dancing Brave in the 1986 Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe. Therefore, we caught up with the British Horseracing Authority’s Head of Handicapping and the man who will decide Frankel’s rating, Phil Smith, to put his rating in context and to enquire on his personal view on the Dancing Brave vs. Frankel debate and what Frankel would have to do to eclipse Dancing Brave’s rating of 141 on Saturday.